Barnstable High hosts anti-bullying forum

HYANNIS — When Chris Coleman heard about a national anti-bullying expert speaking on Cape Cod, he knew he wanted to attend.

ROBERT GOLD

HYANNIS — When Chris Coleman heard about a national anti-bullying expert speaking on Cape Cod, he knew he wanted to attend.

The Marstons Mills man is exploring a career jump into social services. But he's also the father of two young children, and watching the dynamics of pre-school, he already sees how bullying can take root. An issue between students can progress into teasing and intense bullying, he said.

"It's important for parents to take the issue very seriously," Coleman said Wednesday night at an anti-bullying forum at Barnstable High School.

Coleman was one of about 40 people who attended the presentation by Dr. Matthew Masiello, the director of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Windber Research Institute in Pennsylvania. The institute manages a statewide bullying prevention program in which school districts complete three years of training.

Masiello's presentation, which was sponsored by Cape Cod Healthcare, was geared for a wide-ranging audience, from medical and school professionals to parents and the general public.

The impact of bullying can often cause a host of medical issues, he said, including depression, headaches, sleeping disorders and anxiety. In school, it can lead plummeting academic achievement and the skipping of classes. The most tragic cases lead to suicide.

One mistake educational professionals make is trying to get the bully and the bullied to work out the problem together, Masiello said. He argued that approach doesn't work since the bully already has the upper hand.

"Bullying occurs where there is a power imbalance," he said.

Masiello said high school prevention programs are important, but he said it's critical to change the culture of a school district at the earliest grades. Often, students, teachers and parents don't recognize exactly when bullying is happening, he said.

Masiello also cautioned against having "zero tolerance" policies in which students are expelled for bullying. "You are not dealing with the issue," he said.

Having a group session where bullies work out their issues can backfire, too, Masiello said. "You are isolating them. You are identifying them in a negative way," he said.

Instead, Masiello said a school-wide culture needs to be established in which adults and students both know what's acceptable in terms of behavior. There needs to be specific rules with positive and negative consequences, he said.

And for parents, it's important to stay calm if a child complains about bullying at school.

Masiello suggested to parents they have their child start a journal about what they are experiencing at school.

When talking with school officials about bullying incidents, parents should stay calm and unemotional, he said. Parents have a right to ask school officials about their findings after a bullying incident has been investigated, but they can't find out about punishment meted out to a bully unless that student is their child, he said.

Coleman said Wednesday night's forum inspired him to speak with his children's pre-school officials to see how they handle bullying. "I think it should start early," he said.